Game preview capsule: Desert Hills at Syracuse

Written by Andy Griffin on August 17, 2012 in Desert Hills, News, Sports, Top Sports Stories - No comments

GAME PREVIEW CAPSULE

Desert Hills (0-0) at Syracuse (0-0)

THUNDER
Classification: 3A, Region 9
Last year: 9-4
Coach: Carl Franke (first year)
Offense: Spread
Players to watch: QB Ty Rutledge moves from the slotback position and his athleticism mirrors that of last year’s Porter Harris. TE/DE Josh Anderson is a supreme athlete and Travis Lagrone returns to anchor the defense.
PPG (last year): 26.4
PAPG (last year): 19.2
Trend: Franke was a bit hot-headed when he first started coaching in Utah, but since has settled down and should be a good fit for the Thunder. But Desert Hills had nearly 30 seniors last year, so this young team will need to grow up in a hurry.

TITANS
Classification: 5A, Region 1
Last year: 8-4
Coach: Russ Jones (57-51)
Offense: Spread and two-back
Players to watch: Brock Anderson is the new QB for Syracuse. A trio of running backs, Mason Woodward, Kavika Fonua and Matt Kealamakia, are going to be hard to stop.
PPG (last year): 20.0
PAPG (last year): 13.6
Trend: Syracuse is a big school in a region that loves to play defense. The philosophy for the Titans is to stack the best players on D and dare other teams to score on them. Last year, Syracuse allowed less than two TDs per game and most of that defense is back.

GAME OUTLOOK

The Thunder and Titans had an epic defensive war last year, won by Syracuse 14-12. DH has athletes, but little experience. The Titans have athletes, experience and size. Many are picking Syracuse to go all the way in 5A. This is a tough career-opener for Coach Franke.

STGnews PREDICTION

Andy Griffin — Syracuse

Jeff Ames — Syracuse

Email: sports@stgnews.com

Twitter: @STGnews

About the Author

Andy has been in sports media since 1989, when he graduated from American Technical College and accepted a job as the night disc jockey at Z104 in Logan. While there, he worked at the classic rock station and also served as the beat writer covering the Utah State Aggies and the Utah Jazz. Since earning a journalism degree at USU in 1992, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 23 years and has five children ages 8 to 21.